The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Moscow

Russian lawmakers approved on Monday a resolution recognizing the independence of two rebel regions of Georgia, a move likely to worsen relations with the West already strained by Moscow's military intervention there.

The upper house of parliament, or Federation Council, voted 130-0 to call on President Dmitry Medvedev to recognize the rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent.

Georgia and Russia fought a brief war earlier this month over South Ossetia after Tbilisi sent in troops to try to retake the province by force, provoking a massive counter-attack by land, sea and air from Moscow.

"Today it is clear that after Georgia's aggression against South Ossetia (that) Georgian-South-Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhazian relations cannot be returned to their former state," upper house speaker Sergei Mironov said during the debate. "The peoples of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have the right to get independence."

The lower house, or State Duma, was due to approve a similar resolution later in the morning.

"We will look today at the appeals from the peoples of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to recognize the independence of these republics, I think that all these decisions will be accepted," said Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov.

The non-binding resolutions could either signal Medvedev's intentions or be intended to strengthen his hand as he negotiates the status of Russian forces in Georgia with the West.

EU president France, which brokered a ceasefire in the conflict, which has killed hundreds of people and made thousands more homeless, called a September 1 meeting of EU leaders to discuss the crisis and review the bloc's relations with Russia.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said ties with Moscow could be scaled back if its troops were not fully withdrawn.

But French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was more cautious. "We're not talking about sanctions," he told France Inter radio.

"Getting a ceasefire, stopping hostilities and the troop withdrawal in eight days, that's quite a lot already. We'll have to see. We have to take stock of the situation."

Moscow, which has pulled back the bulk of its forces from central and western Georgia, says the residual troops are peacekeepers needed to avert further bloodshed and protect South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

But Georgia and the West object to the scale of the Russian-imposed buffer zone adjoining the two rebel regions, which hands Moscow pressure points on key oil and trade routes through Georgia to the Black Sea.

The United States, which has said Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization could suffer, on Sunday delivered 55 tonnes of aid aboard the warship USS McFaul a gesture of support for its close ally, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.